Handicraft Industries in Rural India Economy

The role of Handicraft Industries in Rural India Economy is very important and its contribution towards the rural economy of India is increasing steadily. The Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Rural Economy, under Government of India are the two main governing authorities, which drafts and implements policies for the handicraft industries in rural India economy. The handicrafts industry of India comes under the unorganized sector of village economy of India.

India is basically an agriculture-based country and the development of rural economy of India depends upon the development of its 700-million strong rural population.

The rural economic policies of India is drafted according to the needs of rural India since, majority of the population (around 70%) lives in about 600,000 small villages. The rural India is almost wholly agriculture based and a small part of the rural Indian population is engaged with small industries like handlooms, handicrafts and other traditional produce. The role of Handicraft Industries in Rural India Economy became important, since today the organized sector of Indian industry is ready to absorb the products from these industries. Moreover, with liberal trade and export policy, the export of the Indian handicrafts industry is on an all time high.

The main products that are manufactured by the rural handicrafts industry of India are as follows -

Art metal wares

Wood wares

Hand printed & textiles & scarves

Embroidered & crocheted goods

Shawls as art wares

Zari and zari goods

Imitation jewelry

Miscellaneous handicrafts

The major importers of rural Indian handicrafts are as follows -

Art metal wares - USA, Germany, UK & Italy

Wood wares - USA, UK, Germany and France

Hand printed & textiles & scarves - USA, UK, Germany & Canada

Embroidered & crocheted goods - USA, Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany

Shawls as art wares - Saudi Arabia, USA, Japan & UK

Zari and zari goods - UK, USA, Japan & Saudi Arabia

Imitation jewelry - USA, UK, Saudi Arabia & Germany

Miscellaneous handicrafts - USA, Germany, UK & France

Presently, the global market of handicraft is valued at US$ 400 billion and India's share in the global market stands at 2% only. However, the handicraft industries in rural India economy registered an annual growth rate of 15% consistently over the last decade and it is estimated to grow at the rate of 42% over the next five years annually.

Although, the Handicraft Industries in Rural India Economy is witnessing steady growth over the last five years but its growth is plagued by certain bottlenecks, like the following -

The manufacturing process does not compliments with orders of such products

Use of primitive techniques

High manufacturing cost

Poor quality of products

Product design and development to be aligned with the background and history of the craft, the producer and the market requirements

Poor standard of raw materials

Lack of standardized vendor and suppliers

Lack of standardized raw materials

Improper pricing of finished products

Absence of proper incentives and schemes by the Government of India

Unorganized investment patterns and lack of regular investors

Lack of proper marketi8ng channels

Poor access to urban markets

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